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Pre-tuned a Yamaha C6 in the band room today and the Steinway D in the Chapel at the university. The C6 is getting moved into the chapel tonight to be used for concerto competitions tomorrow. Early morning tuning to get the C6 to match the Steinway D. I wanted to make sure they were both as close to 440 as possible before the morning fun!

First day back from vacation I jumped right in with a K&C grand in a church, then to a school for a capstan grommet job on a Grand Spinet. Everything was so rusty, the Kimball square metal nuts broke apart instead of unscrewing. Once replaced, I re-layed the keys, and did a reg. Then I fixed the ribs that were separating from the soundboard. Almost 8 hours on that one - whew. Then... tuned a Hamburg D at an artist's home. He's in Austria concertizing this week. Long day, but most satisfying.

A Niemeyer upright made by Dongbei??? or some other massive piano combine in China, a Bohemia 123 upright 25-30 c flat needed a PR and a tuning, a Kawai RX-1 Blak--really sweet little grand--needed a PR, some repetition spring softening in the bass, and a small amount of voicing, a Diapason 108 (like a Kawai CX4 or CX5) that was at pitch. Drove 110 miles, too, but no traffic jams! Listened to the sports talk folks on the radio blather on for most of the day about the SF Giants...go Giants, stomp the Phillies!

A U1 and a CFIIIs, for two shows. Two strings broke on the concert grand. It is funny how it is not the string you are tuning that breaks. The first time, it was the one I just finished tuning, and the second time it was the one that I had not started tuning.

A U1 and a CFIIIs, for two shows. Two strings broke on the concert grand. It is funny how it is not the string you are tuning that breaks. The first time, it was the one I just finished tuning, and the second time it was the one that I had not started tuning.

Wow, never had that happen! It's rare that I break one, but it's always the one I'm working on.

I have decided it is my job to break the strings before the concert, rather than to have them break during it. The only pianist who has been able to break a string has been Cecil Taylor, which was irritating, as he had been practicing on that piano all week. Of course, being Cecil, nobody noticed, not the audience, not him.

These are stress breaks. The string breaks at the capo bar, rather than rust breaks, where they break at the tuning pin.

I just had a broken string in the center section of an upright that I re-strung a few years back. The brand new Röslau wire broke at the pin, did not have any rust visible, and was most likely damaged or faulty wire in some way. Soon as I moved the hammer it snapped.....

Had to be the B beside middle C too.....you know behind the bass strings and all of that.....

Today I have finished floor in my workshop. Tomorrow morning, I start bringing my machines, tools, furniture, and other equipment inside. That is going to be my very first real workshop, after more than 10 years of doing piano restoration jobs in my mother^s garage. I feel good.

Tuned a Kawai CX-5H. Get this. Typical idiot tuner syndrome. The "tooner" told the client that they were not going to raise it up to pitch and they did not complete the tuning and that nobody would know the difference anyway unless they used it with instruments. Man, you should have heard the thing. Talk about no rhyme or reason to a tuning? This was it. He tuned it back in Feb, 2010. This time of the year, the piano should be sharp. It was still, 1/2 tone flat! I raised it up to pitch, shimmed the balance rail, had lots of bobbling hammers, regulated the pedals that were not working at all. One pedal had the rod out of place. Like DUH! The other 2 pedals needed adjusting was all. I did a bunch of other stuff to make it play better. The tuning came out great after raising it up to 440. I was there for 2 1/2 hours.

Then, I tuned a Baldwin vertical full sized upright that was close to 440.

Bojan, congrats on your shop! Sounds great. I'll be getting started a set of key bushings in my shed today, which isn't bad, but it doubles as music studio and library. Not much room for machines!

Yesterday was a 5 year old Seiler 186 grand that needed a pitch raise, some hammer sanding/brushing, a small amount of damper work, and a couple of hammer flanges repinned. Nice piano, just untended for a while. Then we got to an old Story and Clark spinet from the 40s with inverted stickers. Surprisingly not a bad tone and mechanism. I was shocked, because she was a new customer. A Kawai RX-2 that gets played often and hard. Quickie blow/lo/drop regulation, sanded and brushed hammers, some near crown needling in the killer octave area. Finally, a rental tuning on a Baldwin Studio from the 70s. Unpleasant tone, and black stuff all over the action.

BDB, I agree with your "string theory." Better to break them during a service call than during a performance.

BDB, I agree with your "string theory." Better to break them during a service call than during a performance.

So now we have to bash the keys with our fists?

Saturday, tuned a Steinway B and a Baldwin L. Today, tuning a home, Cable Nelson she said with sticking keys. Then, had a last minute cancelation so, an open slot that I'm trying to fill. Then, a church. Tuning a Steinway M. Then, tuning a Steinway 0 and a Steinway B. Then, attending our local PTG chapter meeting. Busy day!

Looked at and gave an estimate on a Cable Nelson spinet made by Everett this morning. Had a reschedule come in last minute so, had a hole after that. Then, tuned 2 Steinway's. 1 B and one O. haha, just realized, there is a pun there, B 0!

Was supposed to tune another B but the darn door was locked and I don't have a key yet so, another time.

My first job was in a chateau, perhaps a model of the palace at Versailles, up on it's own hills surrounded by 20 or so acres of prime vineyard. I don't know how many bathrooms the place had, but I would guess at least 6, but probably more like 10. Tons of people on site doing various jobs, including yours truly. The money spent on this house could have balanced the budget in California. "Let them eat cake!"

Two Bosies in residence, one being the red and black giant that toured the world with the three tenors. The hydraulic apparatus that lifts the lid was not functioning, but I couldn't figure it out and turned it over to my pianoDisc installer buddy. So I pitch raised it, then tuned it. The other Bosie was your garden variety six and a half footer/80,000 dollar piano. Half way through the pitch raise, string 1 of C4 broke. This is understrung 17 1/2 wire that crosses the bridge right next to the plate strut. Kind of a PITA to repair, and my first ever on-the-job single string loop! All those years I wondered why they had that on the RPT test! But this was an omen of the last piano of the day.

It was a Wheelock upright, last tuned in the 60s, hand picked in 1934 for the owner's mom by her tuner granpa name of Doolittle. At 50-100c flat, I feared that the steel wound bass strings were not long for this world, and I was right. 3 of the last four bicords broke pretty quickly. I had warned the people....

Half way through the pitch raise, string 1 of C4 broke. This is understrung 17 1/2 wire that crosses the bridge right next to the plate strut. Kind of a PITA to repair, and my first ever on-the-job single string loop!

I've been using the Stringer II tool sold by Pianotek for understring replacements. Now I don't know how I lived without it! It's so nice being able to quickly and easily replace those difficult strings without having to invent streams of new words in the process...

#1538656 - 10/19/1009:16 AMRe: So, what did you do today?
[Re: Sam Casey]

James Carney
Full Member
Registered: 07/30/10
Posts: 440
Loc: new york city

Yeah Loren, I love "the stringer." It really helps save time and prevents aggravation, especially with loop strings. I was actually borrowing one from another tech (for about a year!) and just last week he called and said "I want it back." I only needed it on one job in that time but now I'm probably jinxing myself, so its time to call Pianotek I guess...The bridge positioner part of the tool is awesome too.

Yesterday I started out tuning a nice M & H Model A - rebuilt very well within the last 10 years - a pleasure to tune...

Then a Marshall & Wendell 5-footer from the 20's that needed a huge pitchraise and about seven binding hammers realigned; this piano had no agraffes but sounded ok, although the trichord damper felts were more or less crushed due to the lack of consistent string spacing that agraffes provide. The funny part of this is that the fallboard lettering said "Marschall & Wendell" even though the plate casting was stamped "Marshall & Wendell." A refinisher's mistake, perhaps?

Then a brand new Estonia 190, a piano that I always love to tune and play. The last tuning of the day was supposed to be a factory fresh Blüthner Model 6 but it didn't arrive from JFK in time. So maybe Thursday for that one...

Half way through the pitch raise, string 1 of C4 broke. This is understrung 17 1/2 wire that crosses the bridge right next to the plate strut. Kind of a PITA to repair, and my first ever on-the-job single string loop!

I've been using the Stringer II tool sold by Pianotek for understring replacements. Now I don't know how I lived without it! It's so nice being able to quickly and easily replace those difficult strings without having to invent streams of new words in the process...

Yes, I've seen the stringer II and will probably buy one after this episode. It looks pretty cool. I've used lots of different tubular items, including brake line, brass tubing, pvc pipe. All that stuff got misplaced when I got a new car several months ago. Time to go hunting in the garage.

I also forgot to mention that the facilities guy at this job told me to park several hundred yards away from the house, which made the various back and forths to the car far more time consuming than desired....

First a hammer reshaping/voicing job on an old Hardman grand. These were not the original hammers, but were installed by another tech about 6 years ago, so it was a nice job. Hammers really sounded nice when finished. A little bit of lube on the knuckles to take care of jack friction and some squeaky creaky noise.

After that, an old Ivers & Pond upright sitting in a church basement. I expected it to be 1/2 step flat and instead found it about 30 cents sharp. I prepped myself for a pitch raise for nothing. Then went and gave an estimate on another upright. Nice day. Really enjoyed the voicing and maintenance work on the Hardman.